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Records tumble in pool and velodrome

Records for USA and China on the last day of swimming at the Olympics.

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (AUGUST 4, 2012) (IOC) -

American teenager Missy Franklin captured her fourth gold medal at the London Olympics on Saturday (August 4) when the United States broke the world record to win the women's medley relay final.

Franklin, swimming the backstroke leg, teamed up with breaststroker Rebecca Soni, butterflyer Dana Vollmer and freestyler Allison Schmitt to win the gold in a combined time of three minutes, 52.05 seconds.

The Americans led at every handover and shaved 0.14 seconds off the previous world record of 3:52.19 set by China at the 2009 world championships in Rome when the now-banned polyurethane bodysuits were still allowed.

Australia finished second to grab the silver medal while Japan came third to collect the bronze but neither were able to keep up with the Americans after Franklin gave them the lead after the lead-off leg.

Franklin, 17, also won gold in the 4x200 freestyle relay and the 100 and 200 backstroke and became the first swimmer in London to win four golds.

Vollmer and Schmitt both won their third gold medals in London while Soni picked up her second.

Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands won the women's 50 metres freestyle to complete the sprint double at the London Olympics.

Following on from her blistering win in the 100 on Thursday, Kromowidjojo exploded off the blocks and charged through the single-lap race to win the gold in a time of 24.05 seconds, a new Olympic record.

Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus, the silver medallist behind Kromowidjojo in the 100, took the silver in 24.28. Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands grabbed the bronze in 24.39. Germany's Britta Steffen, the defending Olympic champion and world record holder, was fourth.

Kromowidjojo became the first Dutchwoman to win both freestyle sprints since Inge de Bruijn at Sydney in 2000.

China's Sun Yang won the men's 1500 metres freestyle gold medal in world record time at the London Olympics.

Sun clocked 14 minutes, 31.02 seconds to beat the 14:34.14 he set at last year's world championships in Shanghai to win gold ahead of Canada's Ryan Cochrane while Beijing Olympics champion Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia clinched bronze.

British cyclists continued their domination in the velodrome by beating the United States to win gold in the first ever Olympic women's team pursuit on Saturday.

The trio of Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell and Dani King blasted around the polished boards to ear-splitting roars from another capacity crowd, breaking their own world record again with a time of three minutes 14.051 seconds.

They added the Olympic crown to the world title they already owned and took Britain's tally of golds on the track to four.

Canada won the bronze medal.

China's Chen Ding won gold in the men's 20km race walk, storming home in confident style in front of a packed crowd at Pall Mall.

Ding, 19, set a new Olympic record with a time of 1:18:46, finishing 11 seconds ahead of Guatemala's Erick Barrondo and Chinese compatriot Wang Zhen, who took silver and bronze respectively.

Olympic and double world champion Valeriy Borchin of Russia collapsed with exhaustion on the final stretch as he fought to stay in contention for a bronze medal.

America's Bob and Mike Bryan added a gold medal to their trophy haul with a 6-4 7-6 win over France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra in the Olympic tennis men's doubles final.

The Bryan twins, who have won 11 grand slam titles together and took home the men's doubles bronze in Beijing, were handed the victory in a second set tiebreak when Llodra ploughed the ball into the net.

It was the second U.S. tennis gold of the day after Serena Williams stormed to victory in the women's singles final.

France also took home two medals, with Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet earlier claiming the men's doubles bronze with a 7-6 6-2 win over Spain's David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez.

China fought off early jitters and caution to grind down South Korea to take gold in the women's team epee final.

In a flurry of touches by world number one Sun Yujie, third seeded China took the final margin of victory to 14 points with the final score 39-25 over the eighth seeds.

South Korea's team, having upset the top seeds and reigning world champions Romania in the first round, jumped to an early lead but then ran out of gas in the closing rounds.

The United States won their first medal in fencing at the London Games, beating Russia in sudden death by a score of 31 to 30, to take bronze.

The silver medal puts South Korea, a relative newcomer to the top ranks of fencing, tied for first in the fencing medals table with six medals along with perennial powerhouse Italy.

China are third in the fencing medals count with three.

The U.S. team, coming off a record-breaking offensive assault in their previous game, struggled with their shooting touch but came on at the end to

beat Lithuania 99-94 at the men's Olympic basketball tournament.

The Americans romped 156-73 clear of Nigeria on Thursday but a staunch defensive effort by Lithuania and some smooth shooting of their own made for a close game.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Lithuania (1-3) were within two points at 84-82 before LeBron James took command, scoring nine points down the stretch to ensure a U.S. victory that kept them unbeaten at 4-0 in Group A.

James and Carmelo Anthony shared scoring honours for the U.S. team with 20 points apiece. Linas Kleiza led Lithuania with 25 points.

"We've had different ways of winning and tonight was another way that we can win," James said. "And we are happy about our production today."